When I picked up the latest Portland Phoenix, I felt the insert inside, realized it was the Summer Guide, and pulled it out to take a look. Remembering the year of the terrible cover featuring a highly sexualized woman (see "Cover Hits the Wrong Tone," letter from Jennifer Lunden, June 30, 2006) I was delighted to see that this year, you featured a big ice cream cone instead. And then I pulled my hand away from the bottom right-hand corner.

And there she was. Sure, she has more clothes on than the bikinied woman of the past cover. But why the cleavage? And FYI, I don't think it's even possible to hula hoop with your ass sticking up that high in the air.

The Phoenix is supposed to be a progressive paper. It is not progressive to objectify women. It is same old, same old, and I expect more from you.

You don't have to look far for an image portraying women that isn't objectifying. Check out the cover of the very issue in which the Summer Guide is contained. There you can see both women and men, and the women are dressed in a range of outfits and look like actual human beings.

I think I wrote to you about this once before. If not, I meant to. I hope you will do better in the future.

P.S. I suggest that the next time you need an illustrator for the Summer Guide, that you do not choose someone with a blog called "Atom-Bomb Bikini." Maybe a woman, perhaps. That would be a great start.

Radically unoriginal Greg Cook’s breathless description of “the hottest show in the nation right now” ignores a lot of troubling context in the Fairey phenomenon.

Art appreciation The recent Phoenix editorial on state-government funding for arts and culture highlighted many of the challenges we face as we try to meet our aspirations as a community amidst a very difficult economic environment.

Stonewalled: what a riot! I was excited to read the “Trail of Tunes” feature about outdoor music festivals in the Phoenix Summer Guide.

Letters to the Portland Editor: July 10, 2009 A recent EqualityMaine campaign letter claimed that gay marriage is "the fight for our lives." I wonder whose lives they are talking about, when AIDS service organizations and community health/reproductive clinics across the state have been tightening their belts and desperately trying to crunch numbers.

Sympathy for Palin, advice for Gates I found your article on Sarah Palin ("Sarah, Inc." July 17) to be surprisingly informative and balanced. Usually when there are media articles about Palin, they are loaded with personal attacks against both her and her daughters — something we Republicans call "PDS," or Palin Derangement Syndrome.

Letters to the Portland Editor: August 21, 2009 Regarding Lance Tapley's latest effort on the Maine State Prison Board of Visitors (see "Secret, Unaccountable, and Co-opted," August 14), what he sometimes refers to as advocacy journalism might be more appropriately termed agenda journalism.

DIAMON MISREADS MICHAUD | November 20, 2013 Having read Al Diamon’s expression of preference for Paul LePage’s policies — although not his temperament — I was not surprised to see his criticism of Mike Michaud (see “Where Were You When I Needed You?,” November 15). But I was disappointed by its tone.

AN EXPERIENCER WRITES | September 26, 2013 I think it’s great that your paper took the time to cover the topic of extraterrestrial abductions and the Experiencers Speak event (see “Taken Up,” September 6, by Deirdre Fulton). However, I think it also helped to encourage disinformation about the subject and ridicule those that have had such experiences.